Hellcat Squadran: On Azrael's Doorstep
This story takes place in 2353 during the Reaper War, two months after the destruction of Romulus and Remus. Chapter 1: Moving the Pawn Jace wiped his hidden blade against the metal plates on his leg, glaring at the excess blood and flesh roll off before it returned to its sheathe. The world around him was now silent and he thanked any deities above that his helmet could block out sound on a whim. He looked back up, the corpses of Husks and Cannibals laying around him. Mixed in were some of the last Coalition forces on the continent. A long sigh escaped him as he turned and walked back towards his outpost's command center. The situation was just as grim as anyone could have imagined. He was stuck at the only Coalition outpost on the continent in the middle of a dusty, open field on a planet he had never heard of a month earlier. Reinforcements weren't coming, he knew that, and another wave of Reaper forces had to be on the horizon. Even if they weren't, real Reapers would be there within hours. Jace hurdled over debris laying in front of the outpost's doorway and began to walk the corridors. Even the base felt empty at this point. There's nobody left. Can't possibly be more than fifty people left here. ''Jace shook the thoughts out of his head as he walked into the broken down command center, manned by only three individuals. "Captain, how many men are we down to?" He didn't even want to know the answer, but he had to. A lone trooper standing by a destroyed turret looked up at him. "Twenty-eight troopers and seven Turian Blackwatch commandos are all that's left, Commander." Thirty-five men. Thirty-five men plus himself. Against what should be a new wave of at least three hundred Reaper troops. Three days ago there were five hundred men, plus armor. Jace slid a stack of reports off of a side table and glanced at them. They told of the last few days' losses. ''Day 1: 53 KIA Day 2: 78 KIA, Most Armor Destroyed Day 3: 72 KIA Jace picked up a small pen and wrote below the last number. Day 4: 262 KIA, Still Counting Jace sighed again and tossed the pen and papers back onto the table, wincing at the numbers.The thought that it was ten times, a hundred times, a thousand times worse in some places forced an unwanted shudder down his spine. "Commander Ferran, should we evacuate? We will not be able to hold this position through the night." Jace glared over at him and saw as blood trickled down the soldier's forehead and cheek. "And go where, Captain? There is nothing else to run to. This firebase is all we have. We're stuck here, Captain. Stuck." The young officer's head sank down at the news. Jace truly felt bad for having to say it, but it had to be told. He patted the man's shoulder as he strode past, moving towards the barely functional holomap. It seemed to be the only working piece of equipment left, everything else either being destroyed or running on their inconsistent emergency power. He watched as it slowly sprung to life, creating an image of his base. It was just as sad as everything else. The hologram showed everything; the firebase's crumbling walls, the destroyed emplacements, even the bullet holes and blaster marks. Jace shook his head at the sight of it. He thought of what he would give to be able to contact home once more. It had been three weeks since he was in contact with anyone off planet, since then the Reapers had blocked all communications. Not that it would've mattered, as the comms array was now shrapnel. He closed his eyes and slowly slid off his helmet, gently placing it on the holomap. Thoughts of his parents and sister ran through his mind, shortly followed by that of the rest of his family. Jace shook his head, wanting nothing else than to see them again right now. Hell, if they were here, there'd be nothing to worry about. The Reapers would be running for their friggin' metallic lives. Jace chuckled at his thoughts for a moment before a different one emerged. He thought of Katalena. He'd grown close to her recently, feelings for her following close behind. The thought of her brought a smile to his face for the first time in a long time. The happiness was short-lived, however, as the holomap lit up red and alarms began to sound. His eyes shot open as the map panned to Reaper forces falling from the sky and massing a small distance from the base. He watched the force grow for a few more seconds before turning off the map and picking up his helmet. "Captain, tell the men to take their positi...no, nevermind. Tell them to take whatever position they desire. Everyone can go about this as they please, even run if they want to." "Commander Ferran, are you sure?" "Yes Captain, I am." Jace placed his hand on the man's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye, watching his fear swell. "May the Force be with you, soldier." Jace squeezed the man's shoulder once more and walked on, putting on his helmet and moving towards the front of the base. Once outside, he quickly slid behind debris as to both see the horde in front of him and to provide cover. He tried to breathe easily before turning to look at what was coming. There were too many to count. So many Husks and Cannibals and Marauders stood out in that field that Jace didn't know if it was an army or an entire species. He turned back and looked up at the base. In the broken windows and blown open holes, he saw people ready and waiting, all looking at him to give a sign. A smirk came across his face for a moment, but something else caught his attention. Off to the side, a trio of people were running. One was the captain who was with him a few minutes before. He sighed, knowing they wouldn't last an hour alone. But then again, neither would any of the ones who didn't go. He stared at them for only a few more moments, but it was just long enough to see them engulfed in flames. They lifted off the ground in pieces as a pair of Harvesters flew overhead, landing on the firebase's walls and trying to tear it apart. The soldiers inside had forgotten about Jace's signal and began firing on the beasts, but to no avail. The feeling of doom fell over him as he knew his end had arrived. He drew pistols and looked at them, flicking off the safeties. Once more, he tried to quiet his breathing before turning to go after the horde alone. He rolled out from behind his cover only to be met by a pair of Husks already face to face with him. He fired on one, killing it, but was forced to throw the second one off of him as the rest of the Reapers came upon him. Jace fired on and swung at anything that came near him, trying desperately to create space for himself and last just a little longer. After a minute of slaughter, he felt something behind him. He turned just in time to see a Marauder coming right at him along with a huge, blinding light that seemed to engulf him. He felt the Marauder tackle him right before his senses went numb. Chapter 2: Homecoming Jace hit the ground hard and bounced along the ground, his helmet freeing itself from him. As his momentum slowed, he rolled up onto a knee and stopped himself. A hellish scream rang out as the Marauder, just getting up, began to charge once again. Quickly drawing his pistol and four successive shots caused the Reaper soldier to fall back in a useless heap. Jace let out a long exhale and looked over to the side, his helmet and other pistol laying on the ground. As he walked over and picked them up, he looked around at nothing but barren land. "Where the hell am I?" All the Reapers that had been around him moments before were gone, as well as the outpost. There was simply nothing but gray landscape around him. Holstering his pistols and sliding his helmet back on, curiosity began to swell. "Computer, find out where we are." He waited a few seconds as his helmet searched for locations, but soon, his HUD lit up bright red. It simply read Location Not Found. As he started the search again and again, the same words came up over and over. "Damn... Well, I guess we're on our own." Jace looked around one more time, then started walking off towards the horizon. __________________________________________________________________________________ After hours of walking, Jace had seen nothing but a few burnt trees and some hills. The desolation seemed endless. Once Jace reached a completely flat clearing, he looked down at his feet and stopped dead in his tracks. His entire trip had been quiet, but this was an unusual type of quiet. He slowly unholstered one of his pistols as he looked around, unsure why he had this feeling. Jace turned around quickly as a flashbang exploded, blinding him momentarily. As he regained his sight, a kick met his chin, sending him falling backwards and forcing him to drop his pistol. He looked up and quickly rolled out of the way and a burst of bullets ripped into the ground next to him. As he rolled back up onto his knees, he looked around and saw six soldiers, guns trained on him. One against six wasn't something he was up to, especially when unarmed. For the first time in his life, Jace held up his hands, giving in to his attackers. They closed in on him, with two of them grabbing him and following the other four. Soon, they reached small metal door built into the ground, covered in dirt. To any passerby, it was nearly invisible. Jace was led down stairs into what he could only guess was the soldiers' base. As the door closed behind them, a hallway in front of them lit up sporadically, broken lights mixed in with ones producing only meager light. As they advanced, one of the soldier smashed the butt of their rifle into Jace's back. "Helmet off, maggot!" Jace glared back at the soldier, but then did as he was told, sliding his helmet off and holding it at his side. After a few minutes, they reached a door with the letters CIC ''painted on them, but extremely faded. The doors opened into a cluttered room that he swore should have been a storage room. Jace scanned the room he was led in, eyes finally adjusted to the lack of light. The pseudo command center was just as dimly lit as the corridors leading to it. A pair of lights above him and a few monitors were all that kept the room from becoming black. Jace wondered if it wouldn't be better if they were dark, because at least then he wouldn't have to be forced to look at the chaos around him. Mixed equipment, mixed uniforms, mixed races, everything was mixed up, like it had been thrown together. The only thing that wasn't mixed were their eyes. They were all fixed on him, filled to the brim with what he knew all to well to be utter fear. Their stares were only broken by the slow, squeaking sound of an old wheelchair that half rolled into the light. "Guards, leave him." The men to Jace's sides turned and walked away, commanded by a familiar, soft voice. The same soft voice had been with him throughout his entire life. It rattled around in his head and echoed in his mind as the chair rolled forward, carrying a pile of tattered robes engulfing a small, frail body. "Jace? You're...you're supposed to be dead." Jace stood there motionless, staring at a broken and battered woman that should have been his mother. It looked as if she had aged forty years since he had last seen her. "Jace? Son?" "Mom." Jace was just able to mutter out the only word that could come to his mind. He watched as Clara began to tear up and roll her chair over to him, throwing her arms around his waist in a feeble attempt of a hug. Jace half-heartedly returned the gesture and looked down at her in shock. "Mom, what happened? What's going on?" He heard her try to answer, but the only response that came were a few mumbled sobs. As her sobs failed to stop, Jace knelt down and embraced her properly, hoping to calm her down. After a few moments, she pulled away and looked at him. "Jace, its been so long." "Mom, what is going on?" Clara wiped the tears away from her eyes and turned her chair around, motioning for Jace to follow her. "It is a long story. I'll tell you it all in private." Jace followed her to an area of the room that nobody seemed to be, but in the dim light he failed to be sure. He sat down on a cot pushed into the corner and looked at his mother across from him. "Where are we?" Jace asked as his mom exhaled, preparing for a long explanation. "This is Hryo. It was an uninhabited world for the longest time, until we moved in. This is my command center, if you can consider it that." "Hyro? I wasn't based on Hyro. Yesterday I was still defending my outpost." "Yesterday? Son, you weren't alive yesterday." "What do you mean?" "Jace...you've been Missing in Action for ten years. You were considered dead when your base was overrun." "What? That's impossible. I was still fighting. I mean, there were Reapers everywhere, then there was the white light, and I was here. I don't know what..." Jace trailed off, baffled by what he was being told. "I don't know either. The only thing I can think of is you got saved by the most well timed Rift Storm in history. Either way, you're here now, and that's all we can worry about." "Where's dad? And Keryn? Where's the rest of the Coalition?" "It's gone, Jace. All of it." "It can't be. They can't be." "Jace, just listen to me for a minute. After you went missing, we were all broken and disheartened. It was taken so hard by the family, especially your father. A few months after that, Uncle Loran and Aunt Rorii were cut off from evacuation while defending refugees. They held their ground for as long as they could, but eventually...they joined the mounting casualties. About a year later, the Reapers had made it to the Sol System. They invaded Earth, they attacked everything that we had left. I was personally leading the defense of Kaven. After a few days, we began to crack. Just brutal fighting everywhere. It was like a devil's sunset every moment of the day, the sky was lit up with fire, black smoke clouds replacing normal ones. I was ambushed by what seemed like an army of those monsters. Eventually, a Brute came up behind me and got me. It threw me against a wall and its claw severed my lower spine. Made me into, well, this. Before they could kill me, your father came out of nowhere. Everybody has heard stories of his fighting, but by god, this was the fiercest I've ever seen him. He probably went on for an hour against wave after wave, making sure none ever got through to me. But he's just human. I saw Keryn coming in fast to help, but she was already exhausted. She had tried clearing out the entire Outer Rim by herself. Almost succeeded if she hadn't come back to help us. But your dad got wounded, and I could hear his leg break from far, far away. A Reaper ship saw him, and decided to end it...I watched your father be disintegrated. I've never seen that much emotion on your sister's face. That Reaper dropped in the blink of an eye. She began tearing through everything around. The entire planet's worth of Reapers seemed to be firing on her at once. She started blocking the beams, but...she was too tired. After so long, her defense fell... The Erachi fell. A small team was able to pull me out of there as the planet was razed. That was over eight years ago. Soon enough, the governments broke apart, warlords took over what forces were left, infighting happened... There's not much left." Clara finally had to stop to wipe away the stream of tears running down her face. Jace's head just sat in his hands in between his knees, barely able to comprehend his mother's story. He tried to say something, anything, but nothing was able to come out. After the minutes ticked by, he was able to speak. "What about Katalena and the other Hybrids? Where are they? Or did they...?" "Katalena led what was left of the Hybrids on Mars during the assault. They did not last. The Hybrids, as you know them, are extinct. Save for you at least." Clara may as well said nothing. Jace gave zero reaction, just a blank stare of sadness that seemed to go on forever. For Clara, even telling the story that she has known for years continued to break her heart. Only this time, her heart broke for the hundredth time as she watched her son's do it for the first time. She patted his leg and rolled her chair back. "C'mon child, let us find you somewhere to bunker down for a little while. I think you'll be staying here for a bit." Jace forced himself up and walked past her, stealing a sigh from her as she wheeled her chair behind him. Chapter 3: Blueprints Jace stirred in his cot, unable to sleep. The way things were now, the things that his mother had just thrown onto him, they all simply consumed Jace's mind. ''There has to be a way to fix this. Everything is screwed up because of me. "This is bullshit," Jace angrily muttered as he rolled over, slamming his fist into the rusted metal wall. Why couldn't my Hybrid power be frickin' time travel? That would've made this so much simpler. Jace sat up, placing his feet on the cold concrete floor. He collected his things and rose up, helmet under one arm, his blue lightsaber in his other hand. He headed back towards what was the center of the command area, making a line for Clara. As he got there, he examined the blue holograms lighting the table as she talked with an unfamiliar soldier. "Jace, would you like to weigh in?" Clara asked him, pulling him from his thoughts. "Excuse me?" "The Reapers are closing in on this planet. We need to move to a new location, but we lack the capabilities to really do so," Clara explained, drawing a grunt from the other soldier. "We have two small ships. There's no way to fit everything on. Anything not taken on those two ships is going to be killed or destroyed by Reapers once we leave. They track us way to fast," the soldier said, shaking his head. "My apologies, Jace. This is Colonel Julian Gray, he's another Warlord that has joined up with me," Clara said, drawing a shocked looked to form on Jace's face. "Warlord?" "Unfortunately, yes. After the Coalition shattered, the populations sort of...split up. Looking for opprotunities to start their own faction. It was stupid really. The name warlord went to a few of them, and it just stuck. Needless to say, many didn't last long." Clara's recounting simply drew a nod from Jace, with many new things not surprising him as much anymore. After a few seconds, Jace looked back at his mother straight in the eye. "I need to get home. I can't stay here." "Home? Kid, there is no more home. It's just what base we are currently at," Julian commented, deadpan serious. "No, I mean home. I need to go back. If I go back, things could change. It wouldn't be as much of a hell here now," Jace explained, knowing how crazy he sounded. "You're talking about time travel here. You're lucky you are still alive, and now you're talking about time travel. You must be crazy. There is absolutely no way-" Julian ranted, before Clara's low, quiet voice interrupted. "Delta..." "Excuse me, ma'am?" "Delta. Science Division Delta. If anyone in the galaxy could have something like that, it's them. And if I'm right, they still do." "So you're telling me that they can send me back?" Jace exclaimed. "They may have been able to, if they weren't all dead. However...their tech may still be somewhat intact," Clara began pulling up new images on the hologram, eventually getting a space station and small portal type machine next to each other. "This is Research Station Orion, one of their old bases. They didn't study time travel, but they did begin work on this." Clara motioned to the second image, the portal device. "This is a Rift Storm Generator. They wanted to try and see if they could create precision storms at any place...or in this case, time. If they finished enough of it, and if it still works, you may have a chance to get back home." "Ma'am, with all due respect, why haven't we tried this before?" Julian asked, truly befuddled. "Because, Colonel, look at where it's located. It's in an asteroid field near the Elite homeworld of Sanghelios. Not only was that sector hit hard, but it is also located in a spot that the Reapers have never left. They use it as a staging area. It's suicide." "And just staying here isn't?" Jace jabbed. "Staying alive is what's important, Jace. Survival, not going extinct," Clara spoke soothingly, but not enough to calm her son. "If you just keep running, you'll eventually die. Either by age or by Reapers. Or by each other. But if that station has even the slightest possibility of giving a victory, you have to take it!" Jace's voice raised higher and higher, getting stares from many of the room's inhabitants. "Jace...it's not that simple..." Clara said, head going down. "Then I'll go alone. Worse case scenario, you're back in the position you were in yesterday," Jace said before turning around and walking away. But once again, the quiet, soft voice of Clara stopped another man in their tracks. "You'll need a strike team. A very, very elite one." "Where can I get one?" Jace asked, turning back around. "Present," Julian spoke up, surprising both Clara and Jace. "Really, Colonel?" Clara asked. "Yes ma'am. I'm 27 years old. Most of my life, I have either been too young to remember anything or fighting Repears. I would love to see what it was like before all of this, even if the chance is minimal. If we fail, at least I go out like a soldier," Julian said, a small, nostalgic looking smile crossing the veteran's face. "That is very brave of you Julian. Jace, he's the best I have. He can help you out a lot. Close to medium range combat specialist, much like yourself." "I also owe the kid. I nearly knocked him out when we captured him," Julian added, more collected and stoic than before. "That was you?" Jace asked, his voice edging to that of annoyed. "It was. It was a good kick too, kid." "Easy you two. Don't kill each other before you even start," Clara invoked, trying to calm the pair. Jace sighed and nodded. "Very well. But I think we need more than just two people." Jace walked back over to the table and placed his helmet on it. "I would love to be there with you, son, but...as you can see, I would only be a hinderence. I know three people that can help. After that, I have nothing," Clara said, disappointment drowning her words. She felt as if that was all she had ever given him, disappointment. When he was a child and ignored him for Keryn, when he was a young adult and she left to fight the Aryoril, when she simply left with Caden when the Reapers came. She had always left and disappointed him, but this was one chance that she could use to truly help him. "Just send them over and I'll be good," Jace said, not even noticing his mothers troubled state. "They aren't here. They're scattered. But if they're alive, I can tell you where to find them." "That's all I need. Thank you mother," Jace said and gave her a small kiss on the head, much like what a mother should've done for their son. "You're welcome, Jace. Take the smaller one of our ships. We can fit our people in the other one. If this works, it won't matter about our equipment," Clara grasped one of Jace's hands and smiled up at him. "Both of you, go on. I'll send the coordinates to the vessel." "I'll meet you there in 10, kid," Julian chirped before walking away quickly. Jace watched him for a moment before looking back at Clara. "Don't worry mom, we'll get this job done. Things will get better." "You're life is the one I'm worried about, Jace. Not mine." Jace smiled at his mother's statement, leanign down to embrace her for a last time. "May the Force be with you, my son." "And also with you, Cla'buir." That was the first time Jace had ever used that name for his mother. Always for his father, but never for her. He turned and walked towards the hangar bay, placing his helmet on his head and he walked. 15 Minutes Later Jace sat in the co-pilots seat as Julian tapped in the first coordinates they had to visit. They're suicide mission had definitely begun, and there was no turning back now. "Time to go kid. Next time you see dirt, it'll be game time." Jace listened to Julian talk, but did not respond. He simply put his head back and felt as the ship began to release from the ground and begin it's journey. Chapter 4: The Fall Jace's eyes slid open after falling asleep in the co-pilot's chair. The light of thousands of stars flew by the viewscreen as they continued through hyperspace. In the seat next to him, Julian had disappeared. Jace struggled to his feet and walked back into the cabin of the ship, hoping to find his teammate. Sure enough, sitting on one of the benches in the cabin, Julian sat with a dismantled rifle at his feet, grease covered cloths and tools laying around. He looked over for a moment before returning to his rifle. "Hey kid. Wake you up?" Julian asked, rubbing down the barrel with a cloth. "Not at all," Jace answered, sitting down across from him, rubbing his eyes. A few moments of silence fell over the pair, strangers being thrown into a mission together after only a few minutes of knowing each other. "So...Renner. She's your mother?" "By blood, yes. By actually being a parent...I know her only slightly better than you," Jace said, the topic having always been a sore spot with him. Jace's sister Keryn, the apparent 'Chosen One', the perfect person meant to supercede Clara as the savior and protector of the universe, had taken all of their mother's attention during their childhood. Now, their relationship was as strained as anyone could imagine. "Ah. Sorry, kid. I don't mean to have a better relationship with her than you." After another short silence, Julian again killed it. "Hybrid, aye?" "Yes I am," Jace responded, forming a golden crystal in the air above his hand before grabbing it. "Apparently one of the last. Probably the last," Jace said as he spun the crystal around in his hands. "My father, he was a Hybrid. Not very strong, but he had heart and worked hard. That's all you could ask for from him," Julian said, laying down the rifle parts onto the table. Jace looked up at him as the crystal dissolved. "My father...he fell with the rest of them on Mars. He was the last one." Jace sat quiet for a minute, thinking how strange it was that he was conected to him in the way of Hybrid lineage. "How did the Hybrids die?" Jace asked. Julian quickly shot back. "Gloriously. Their last stand on Mars, at the same time as the Battle of Earth, was one that should have been written down in Coalition archives to give inspiration for generations to come. By god...they called Mars the red planet for the iron in the soil, but after that battle, it was red because of the burning wrecks of the Reaper armada and bleeding corpses of their decimated army," Julian said, his eyes closing as he seemed to be remembering it. "How do you know it so well? You weren't old enough to be there?" "My father's Hybrid power. He could transfer any memories he wanted to anyone else, then they could transfer those memories if they wished. Right before he died, he sent them to me. Some weird way of...remembering him. With the memories, he just told me that...that he hoped I was proud of him. For holding the line, even when he couldn't do much," Julian explained, letting out a long exhale. He then opened his eyes back up and stared at Jace. "Would you like to see? It seems like they were your friends. It's only right." Jace nodded slowly, knowing that he wished for few things more. Julian motioned for Jace to sit next to him. WHen JAce sat back down, Julian placed his hands on Jace's head. After a moment, both their eyes glowed hite as the memory transfer began. Chapter 5: Execution Category:Stories